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Kids Blog

Recently, kindergarten students in Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Westmoreland counties, and the City of Fredericksburg received something special from their teachers. An application for a library card! The goal is for every child to have the opportunity to explore the wonderful world of over 700,00 books, DVDs and audios, homework help, and after-school enrichment opportunities available to them at no cost from the public library.

The library provides opportunities for togetherness and nourishment for developing brains, including our Grow a Reader and STEM classes and music events. We also regularly offer engaged educational opportunities for the whole family. Each issue of @ Your Library, CRRL's quarterly magazine, features "great stuff for all ages."

Donna Jo Napoli and Amy Bates’ Hands & Hearts is a sweet picture book for children who might be interested in learning a few ASL signs. It’s a beach day story of a mother and daughter having a wonderful time together. Off to the side of each page is an illustration of how to sign one of the words in the text.

Saturday, February 7, 2015, is the fourth annual Take Your Child to the Library Day. This special day was the brainchild of Nadine Lipman, a children's librarian in Waterford, Connecticut, and serves as an encouragement to families across the nation to visit their local libraries.

Every child needs access to the many wonderful resources that the public library has to offer and whether your family are regular library users or visiting us for the first time, your children will enjoy a visit to your nearest branch. So take your child to the library and on February 7th, stop by the Youth Services Desk to receive a small thank-you for your visit and color and create your own story featuring Mo Willems' beloved Elephant and Piggie. Don't worry if you can't make it in, print the activity out and enjoy at home.

I know what you’re thinking, wrong holiday, but if your winter vacation time is anything like mine you will be on the open road as much as you’ll be at home. Our family will while away the traffic by listening to audiobooks. This past year I’ve started listening more regularly. It’s been a great way to increase the number of books I “read” and makes my short commute go even more quickly. Here are some of my favorite audios that promise to entrance a car full of family no matter how long the journey.

Forbidding outside temperatures aside, there are so many reasons to curl up with a great book. Readers meet a variety of fascinating characters and there’s an empathy that comes from reading about different lives and experiences that carries over to the real world. They learn new perspectives and have vicarious experiences. Personally, I have no ambition to ever sail around the world, but I love to read books about those who do. Books can also create an atmosphere that oozes from the pages and there’s just something wonderful about the lushness of great writing and the aha moment of discovering new words. Here are a few books that encompass all of these characteristics.

What's better than a store-bought valentine with your name on it? Add a little something sweet to make it a valentine to remember. Sure, you can buy pretty candy at just about any store this time of the year, but you can also get creative and make it yourself.

Princesses do not run. They also don’t hide their frilly, pink dresses in a broom closet, slide down secret chutes, or jump over castle walls. And princesses definitely do not wear black. But Princess Magnolia is no ordinary princess… she’s a monster-fighting superhero in disguise, The Princess in Black!

Birds of a feather may flock together in Telephone, by Mac Barnett, but that does not mean they understand each other. Taking place on an actual telephone wire, the story begins with Peter the pigeon's mother asking a friend to tell him to fly home for dinner. Anyone who has played a game of telephone before will know what happens next.

Looking for a book to share on a frosty day? Virginia Brimhall Snow’s Winter Walk is a lovely and informative stroll through nature’s quiet season. Grammy leads the children to all sorts of interesting discoveries. “Why is this tree green, Grammy, when others are brown?”

From the perspective of learning, this book is just right for young ones, and its design allows different ages to enjoy it. The figures of the people are only sketched, almost fading into the white backdrop as they make snow angels, fill a bird feeder, and have a snowball fight. But the images of what they notice and talk about are incredibly vivid: a cardinal, a snowshoe hare, a chickadee, a fox… and a gleaming icicle.